Living through a California Earthquake - a first-hand description
My good friend Elsie Florence Laidlaw passed away
, aged 94, in 2004. Elsie, a wonderful Lady, left no children and as far as we can ascertain, no family. A few weeks ago I came across some of Elsie's very old letters and became so intrigued I just had to check into the history and circumstances that took one of her uncles from a poor English family to California to become President of the Venice Realty Board. So much is missing from this story that I hope someone, perhaps a Californian resident, may be able to fill in more detail.
Sometime in the early 1900's William and Annie Blackwell left their home in the Midlands of England to seek their fortune in the United States. As the oldest son of a railway porter, William, one of at least six brothers and sisters, must have known poverty at its Victorian worst. Born in 1870 it is not clear what jobs he had, or when he emigrated to the USA.
Will's sister and Elsie's mother, Florence, married a well-healed Fish Market Trader, William Rea. Their business in the famous Birmingham Market, made enough money for them to live comfortably in the district of King's Heath, Birmingham and to send Elsie, their only child, to an expensive boarding school for all of her educational years - but that's another story. I include these facts to make clear the references in the letter.
I have other letters and a Venice newspaper sheet from the time but the following is the letter that so vividly takes us back to the hugely rewarding and the terribly threatening place that William found in the new world.
(I have re-typed the text word-for-word, including typos, but a PDF image of the
California earthquake letter can be found here. This letter is not dated but I assume it was written between 1930 and 32.)
Dear Sister and Brother and all.
Don't you thnk it is about time you were dropping a line to U.S.A. We cannot understand your continued silence, but I presume you are so busy with your own affairs, that you have not time to devote to a few lines, which might inform us of your continued existence. Then again we thought you had moved to the new home you contemplated or had bought in the Country, WellFlo how is Will and Elsie, has the latter got married at this writing. I have not heard from Polly for months, is'nt too bad"so near and yet so far". We hear talks from England daily so radio has brought us a little closer. Well my dear, there is very few of us left to carry on in our once Big family. By the way" the conference in London" is not progressing very well, but it may have cemented nationalor rather international friendship more closely.
Annie is Well and enjoying the Pacific Ocean and the great California climate. I have no doubt you heard our last earthquake,Annie and I were in our living room when we felt the shake came, we ran through our back hall into the dining room , and down through our living room,which is 30 ft in length by 12 ft the tiffang ceiling of which is 16 ft high, we thought that tremendous roof would fall on us as we got to the Big front door, on which we keep a brass chain which is always locked, well , the floors under a feet seemed to rock just like a ship on a rough sea, and to save my life in my excitinment I could not get the door to move, we ran back into the breakfast room throgh the kitchen and service porch to a back door leading to our walled pati io which is 8 ft high and surrounds our home, and got out amongst the orange fig and alvacardos into our 3 car Garage there all seemed quiet except for the mocking bids singing , the roosters crowing and at 5pm it got alittle dark the most unusual thing ,because we never get dark before 8pm.
You will hardly believe it Flo ,but the trees and the streets rock and bend to the ground,autos turn complete summersaults. but then we have been through so many earthquakes, cyclones, and tornadoes, and tropical storms ,we would really miss them.Being near Mexico we are located on that strata.
but we are glad to report that we are still alive , and hope to see you all once more before we pass on like the rest of our loved ones.
How is Alfred getting along, or do you keep in touch of him, I do hope he has chosen the one and only road to follow in this short sojourn on earth.
Give our best love to Joe's wife and family,and we wish to extend to you or any of your English friends a cordial welcome to our home,should they ever pass this way.
I would very much like you to answer this letter as soon as possible as it is so long since we heard from you, and you know Flo, next to seeing you , is hearing from you.
Thanking you for an early reply, with best love to all, we are your loving Brother and Sister. Will and Annie x
The letter is from:
office of W.A.Blackwell
President
2422 Lincoln Blvd
Venice California.
Written on headed paper : VENICE REALTY BOARD
Residence
W.A.BLACKWELL. President
1126 VICTORIA AVE.
PHONE 65039
The letter raises many questions:
William had a sister Annie, so were William and Annie brother and sister or husband and wife?
When did they emigrate and how did William rise to his position?
Is there enough evidence to pin-point the date of the earthquake mentioned?
What was "the conference in London" all about?
Are there relatives, however distant, living in the States?
It appears that all or most of their family had passed on although a few names were still mentioned.
It is obvious that, while excited to relate the earthquake experience, poor William could not resist a little boasting about the material things his new life had brought to him. Other letters and a newspaper show that William married in 1935. He also mentions a family who settled in New Jersey. Any help in finding a relative will be appreciated and will ensure these records are returned to their rightful owners.
Living through a California Earthquake - a first-hand description
By: Brian Thomas
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